Fallout: The Courier's Daughter
by Effie.Bay
Summary: Scarlett Manhatten, daughter of the legendary courier, receives a letter from her mother who left her when she was eleven years old. Now determined to search through the Mojave wasteland to find her embarks on a journey she might not be ready for. She knows how many people adore her thanks to her father...but how many people who want to kill her is what she doesn't know.
1. The Letter

"Okay, so you might not believe this but, my dad is the one who took out Mr. House and Caesar's Legion at Hoover Dam, twenty years ago!" I had declared for the hundredth time to a napkin dispenser as I struggled to lift my beer. Thankfully the bar was empty except for my best friend Panda. She was busy cleaning up tables so she could close the bar.

The Courier's Whistle. Just one of the few places named after dad in the wasteland. It used to be Michael Angelo's Workshop until he was crushed by one of his projects.

Now me, I was a borderline alcoholic but, besides playing Caravan for keeps or singing to the old beat up jukebox; this was the best way to make the days go by without getting the local authorities on her ass. The force had become outcasts from the Powder Gangers and the "oh so beautiful impersonators - _The Kings_.

A long straight piece of blonde hair caressed my face as I lifted it from the counter. "You're such a mess Scarlett." Panda said in a playful tone. "Day after day you sit in here winning money off people while singing The Ink Spots and get hammered." She laughed as she grabbed her a beer from the refrigerator and fashioned herself on the stool beside me.

"Well," I proclaimed, "it's more suitable here than anywhere else. Kenny and his pigs have no jurisdiction on this side of those doors." Kenny was the son of The King. With short wavy jet black hair and the looks of the old age greaser and a rigid wartime veteran. Ever since his parents got killed on a trip to the dam by rogue members of the legion four years ago, he's been drowning in responsibility for The Kings. He's become hard, and cold, with the personality of a stick.

"Its not like he can actually do anything to you. I mean you have The Families on your side, and not to mention the Brotherhood of Steel." Panda replied, " Oh! And we can't forget Bassie!" She giggled as she pulled that curly blood red hair of hers intolerable a ponytail. Bassie was short for Sebastian. A childhood friend of mine and Panda's.

Bassie was an ex member of the New California Republic got discharged out due to "minor misdemeanors," when actually he wouldn't give it up for Adrianna, daughter of the NCR leader. He had caramel colored skin, always claiming Italian heritage, some wonderful pre-war ethnic group. Nobody cared for that these days but he felt it made him unique. He had dark brown hair styled into a mohawk and looked like a young Sherlock but quite weathered by our harsh environment.

I looked into Panda's face, surprisingly pale with startling blue eyes. She was searching for an expression on my face with the side smirk she loves to give me. "What's that supposed to mean?" I murmur. Her expression changed from an exhausted bartender to a little kid who downed an entire box of Sugar Bombs and washed it down with a case of Sunset Sarsaparilla. "Oh come on Scarlett!" she yells, "You know just as well as everyone else in New Vegas that he is crushing on you!" Panda throws her head back with dissatisfaction. "So what?' I respond coldly. "I don't need some boy protecting me. Hell, I don't even need the families protecting me! I'm perfectly capable of ripping throats and sending bullets through heads.

" She grunts at me then looks down at her beer sadly. Ever since we found these holodisk with a soap opera series on it, she's become hung up over the concept of love. Either way I try and examine it. _Love makes you stupid._

I learned that from my dad. Whenever I was eleven years old mom packed up and left without a following day he climbed to the top of our home, The Lucky 38 Casino and shot himself in the head. This time though - _He was dead_. I blame myself. For a week straight he kept telling me how I resembled her. How we had the same sparkling hazel eyes and a beautiful smile. We carried the same posture and had identical attitudes. We even both had a birthmark on the bottom left of our necks that looked like a clover.

After his death, I went under the care of the families in the Chairmen, The Omertas, and The White Glove Society. The Chairmen taught me how to shoot like an ace. The Omertas, how to play caravan like a god. The White Glove Society...well they taught me some interesting life skills. They may be very unethical, but they can drink you till your kidneys fail.

I grab Panda by the hand and with hope and just a dash of sarcasm says, "You'll find love one day." She smiles as she tilt her head to the side. "I already found mine!" I say laughing as I pull out a bottle of whiskey. Panda hits me jokingly and squeals "Whiskey can't love you back!" I laugh harder as I dance my way to the elevator near the bar. "Sweet dreams Panda." I sing to her as I head up to my room to maybe try to get some sleep. As she comes to her bed she notices a letter on her desk. She unfolds it to read:

* * *

_Dear Scarlett,_

_You might not remember me and if you do it can't be fondly._  
_This might not be easy for you to believe but, I'm your mother._  
_I really want to meet you but certain circumstances have left _  
_me unable to return to New Vegas. I want to see if you learned_  
_anything from your dad. _

_Find me._

_With hope, Mom._

* * *

I drop the letter startled. _There is no way this is from my mother! No absolute possible way!_ Thoughts begin swarming my mind. _What if it is? Is she really still alive? Why after all this time?_ I hold the letter close to my face and when it hits me tears start rolling down my face. _Apples and Agave._ That's the perfume she would wear. I collapse on my bed. Pain courses through my body and everything starts to go back. The last things able to escape my lips, "She's really alive."


	2. Beginning a Journey

I wake up the next morning with a hangover from hell. The mysterious letter sits on my desk and all I can do is stare at it. I have to talk myself out of bed and into the shower to try and start the day. In the shower I begin to contemplate ways on how to find my mother. Well, I need supplies... food, water, moneys and weapons. Do I need a companion? Wouldn't they just hold me back? It would be nice to talk to Panda right now, she's usually my do or don't calculator, but she won't be here for a couple more hours. "Why has everything become so confusing!" I scream into my pillow. It's about 10:00 am, definitely the earliest I have ever woke up before.

Maybe I could go visit Bassie? I could get two opinions instead of one. He's always been there to keep my alcohol level down and half my morals ethical. There really isn't an option in choosing Panda, right now she's at the Old Mormon Fort. Once home of the Followers of the Apocalypse, now it's your basic rehabilitation center but they also offer classes to the public for general medicine, survival and science. Panda ignores me usually when I come over, I don't blame her, she's so busy. Bassie it is then.

Bassie works at The Tops Casino on the strip. We used to play hide and go seek together all the time as kids, then as we grew older we were able to convince Swank to get us on the slot machines and have a couple hands at blackjack every now and again. Swank always told me I was extremely charismatic. Just like dad. I pull on a pair of pleated jeans with my combat boots then grab the closest button up shirt I could find. I leave my hair down, nothing dries it quicker than the wastelands wonderful hot air during the day. Walking through the strip never gets old. The beautiful daytime drunks who beat even me and our entrancing sidewalk dancers luring in any man or woman they can to one of the casinos.

When I walk inside The Tops I'm automatically greeted by Swank. "Why hello my sweet baby Manhatten." His smile just as wide and welcoming as ever. I walk over to the counter and take a seat up on it. "Hey honey pie." I say as wrap my arms around him for a hug. Even though Swank is an old cat we've always had a flirtatious relationship, he once said it's always been his goal to put a smile on every womans face. " What can I help you with today Miss Scarlett?" he asks as he brushes back his graying hair with his fingers. I sigh softly, "Oh the same old same old." He laughs and picks up the telephone. Due to the prosperity, here at the tops they have been able to get the phones working...for the hotel only though. Anycall that goes outside the doors just gets dropped into silence. "Hey Sebastian! Get your ass down here, a lovely maiden requests your company." Those words come as smoothly out of his mouth as money from a drunks wallet.

He hangs up the phone with a lite click and turns to me. "Your knight in shining armor is on his way princess." I laugh and then drop it quickly with a single question I must ask Swank before i forget. "Hey Swank.." I nudge his arm and make sure I have his undivided attention. "Can you tell me anything about my mom?" i whisper. His normal I'm fly as hell look disappeared from his face and with that his voice becomes rough. The mood between us grows uneasy. Before Swank can open his mouth to talk, a pair of hands fly around my waist. It can only mean one thing.

"Hey Bassie." the words roll off my tongue quickly as if I had recited this with loyalty and care - since the only person to ever greet me like this was Bassie. I slide out of his grasp and turn around to a well ironed Italian. I don't let him get a word out and instead I give Swank a wave and just grab Bassie by hand and pull him to the elevator. I pull out my wallet and grab my key card and take us up to the presidential suite. The number one place I can take him to where no one can try to spy. My face turns cold and I say to him. "We need to have a talk, it's urgent, and no one can know anything." He nods as we reach our floor.

Once we reach the suite I keep quite and hand Bassie the letter. He reads it to himself and then aloud, he looks at me confused. "You really think this could be your mom?" he asks. I nod looking for the closest bottle of whiskey. "Are you going to go find her or what? Do you have a plan?" his face holding mine wanting something more than a nod. "Yes, I am going to find her. No, my only plan so far was to talk to you and Panda and figure this shit out." I lay back on the couch and attempt to relax myself with a couple of drinks.

Hours pass and Panda shows up in the room. The three of us all start playing drinking games together such quarters and waterfall. A couple of years back we found this book about them. It was barely legible but with what we got out of it we made the best of.

It gets late and Panda gives into her tiredness and lays down in the guest bedroom. Bassie lays down on the couch and tells me goodnight and is almost gone instantly. I sludge to the master bedroom of the suite and within no time everything goes black.

_**The Next Day**_

I wake up to a throbbing headache and pull my watch to my face. 4:29 p.m. "Ugh, I overslept." I peer to the guest bedroom to find Panda gone and as luck would have it Bassie wasn't still dead on the couch but gone. I force myself over to the bathroom sink and look into the mirror. My hair is sticking up in various places and some of its stuck to my cheeks from saliva. I turn on the shower and strip down. "I guess I can get a quick shower before I pack up to leave, who knows how long it will be until I'm able to take another shower." I say to myself. The bathroom gets steamy fast as I step into the shower. The heat of the water usually burned away all my problems and worries but this time it couldn't wash them out.

I finish up in about fifteen minutes and walk to the elevator. As the doors opens I can feel my body tense up. It knows as well as my mind that today is going to be a long one. I rush out the casino and send a friendly wave at Swank. I should have woken up earlier it's going to be a long night of walking. I make my way to the tops and up to my room. I open up the door to find Panda already organizing what I'm going to need. I don't see her packing any alcohol and I start to worry just a little.

"Good Morning sleepy head." Panda says to me with a smile. I throw an _I'm dying_ look at her and go grab a box of insta-mash potatoes to cook up before we leave. It's not till around 8:30 p.m. that we actually begin our trek As we reach the gates leading out of the "safety" of New Vegas both Panda and Bassie look at me with the question of "Where the hell are we going?" linger on their faces. I look to them and look to the poorly drawn map I was given by Marjorie along with a questionable meal for the road. Marjorie marked the map in order of the places my father had traveled to from beginning to end. I fold the map up and look at the gate. I breathe in "First Stop...Goodsprings." The gate opens as we disappear into the darkness of the wasteland with only the moon to light the way.


	3. Goodsprings and Old Friends

As we traveled through the night, we didn't stumble upon many problems. We had a few fire ants and boat flies here and there but nothing that couldn't die with a quickly aimed bullet to the brain. Almost to our destination with maybe two miles to go. Weary eyed with sore legs we find a shack and start up a fire to get some rest.

"I didn't think we would have to do this much walking. Goddamn!" cried out Panda as she fell onto her back. Bassie laughed hard while he was drinking some water and almost choked on it. "Well my dear Panda!" I start. "There's no telling if this is the least or even a fraction of what we will have to walk until we find my mother. So you just might need to learn to love it." I finish with a slight laugh with a sigh. I lay on my side watching the camp fire flicker. My stomach growls but I know if I eat right now It'll keep me up for the extent of our planned rest and I can't afford to be sleep deprived.

I look to Bassie as he stared at the holes in the ceiling of the shack. He looked completely lost in thought. I've never been like that. I turn my back to the fire and pull my moms letter from my bag. I hold it close to me and run my fingers along the edges. The distant cries of deathclaws faded out as the we drifted off the sleep. Daytime quickly surrounded us without mercy.

After a quick breakfast of Brahmin steak and Nuka-Cola, we set our sites on Goodsprings again only stopping once when Bassie pricked himself badly trying to get some prickly pear fruit. Panda kept singing in humor "Bassie got pricked by tge prickly, Bassie got pricked by the prickly." Finally over the irradiated horizon we saw it.

**Welcome to The Town of Goodsprings.**

We walk up to the Prospector's Saloon and are greeted by what looked like a prehistoric dinosaur I saw out of an old half burned book once. We stood there staring at it for a minute and as we were about to make our way past it I finally realized, " No way! That's Cheyenne!" Bassie and Panda looked at each other and then at me as if I had completely gone nuts. I reached down to give her some love and her tail wagged weakly. Right on queue the unofficial but understood sheriff of Goodsprings came around the corner. Sunny Smiles. "Well I'll be a deathclaws lover, Scarlett Manhattan, I haven't seen you since you were a little bitty thing, running around like a maniac with a knife trying to kill radroaches." Sunny laughed and motioned for us three to sit down at the stools of the bar.

"So what are you guys doing this far away from the strip?" asked Sunny with curiosity written all over her face. Both Panda and Bassie looked to me waiting for me to explain. "I think this could lighten everything up for you." I say as i reach for the letter in my bag. I hand it to Sunny who gives me a weird look as she opens the letter and begins to read. Only a few minutes pass before her face goes from a cheerful grin to a solemn grimace. "Scarlett... this doesn't sound like a wonderful idea." I blew some air out of my mouth and before I could even begin to speak she interrupted with, "Don't you give me that attitude, I know what you're trying to do! You're just like your mom and dad..." she began to trail off but started up again. "Which means there isn't anything I can say or do to stop you. So if you really want help, I would talk to Yes Man, he's the only one around here who never forgets anything... He is a damn robot after all." Sunny looked down with an angered embarrassment on her face.

For a while we sat down and drank together. Introducing Bassie and Panda to Sunny and also a lot of catching up with Sunny. Everything felt good for a moment, almost like we didn't all live in an post apocalyptic wasteland.

We all awoke the next morning hungover and reaching for irradiated and even radiated bottle of waters. As we all finally composed ourselves I gave a long hug to Sunny and told her that it might be a while before we see each other again after we talk to Yes-Man. She looks at me sadly then turns that around into a smile and and kisses me on the cheek, making me promise I would come back even if it was a long time from now. We walk through town, stopping to pet some of the brahmin. "They like being scratched right in the middle of their heads and behind the ears." both my companions look at me strangly. Panda curiously says, "How much of your life have you actually spent out here?" I shrug, not really knowing how to answer.

The only time I ever traveled outside of New Vegas was with dad when he had mission or a delivery he felt I would be moderately safe on... which was probably too many thinking back now. I've almost been killed numerous times, more than someone my age living in a place like this normally should. It got better the more adventures I went on with him. He taught me how to lock pick, hack computers, and even disable and reuse land mines. You know, all the basics.

We kept strolling down the half dirt - half asphalt road and finally stood in front of the door of Yes-Man. I knock a couple of times and wait as patiently as I could. After a few minutes pass I start getting agitated. I knock some more and this time a lot harder. Yet again another ten minutes pass and I feel a blood vessel in my head is about to pop. I take a deep breath and step back for a moment. With an angry grunt I go to kick the door as hard as I can. Then it happened. The most perfectly timed and a painfully embarrassing moment happened. Yes-Man opened the door. My fury filled foot hit the air as hard as I hit my back to the ground. Dazed for a moment with ringing in my ear, laughter from Bassie and Panda arose and before I knew it even that damned robot was laughing at me with mono-toned mockery.

I get up and I compose myself wiping away the dirt and rocks that have tried to become familiar with me. Everyone becomes quite. They can see the storm rising in my eyes. I rear my arm back and with a satisfying clunk I land a punch on Yes-Man, slightly cracking his screen and unfortunately letting some blood run from my knuckles.

Yes-Man lets off a disapproving siren as his smiling picture of a face turns to one with rage then gets in my face. "WHY YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THAT TO ME! HELL I SAVED YOUR OWN FATHER AND IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT SO THAT I COULD BE PUNCHED IN THE FACE BY HIS SPAWN." I begin to laugh really hard, grabbing my stomach as a few tears roll down my cheeks. I look up to his cracked screen. "Yeah and you almost got him killed more than a hundred times, then you swore to me when I was a little girl you would never let anything bad happen to him. Well you know what? You broke your promise Yes-Man, because my father is dead!"

He backs away from me, His screen turns to a frown. "You're joking right? This has to be some kind of sick joke right? Right? RIGHT?" I put my head down and nod at him. Digital tears start rolling down his screen and a crackled cry sets out. He looks to my friends and then back to me and beckons us to come inside. We all stand around for a few minutes while Yes-Man tries to get a hold of himself. After he calms down he begins to question me about my father and I give him every answer I could trying not to go into detail. He told me how he thought my dad was okay because a tracking chip he had given my father was till going off. It could detect a pulse but it must have had some kind of glitch to still be going on after all this time.

Some more silence went on in the small shack and I felt it was time for me to the point of the sudden visitation.

"Yes-Man, Do you know anything about my mother or her whereabouts?" A loading screen appeared on his face and after a few seconds a map appeared with a pulsing dot on it. "Vanessa Manhattan's tracking chip appears to be at the Nellis Air Force Base. Estimated trip time is four days. Weather predictions are seen as hot and dry with 2% chance of rain." I get up and give the metal lug a hug and tell him thank you and also apologize about his screen. I pick up my stuff and tell him if he needs to speak to me anytime before I leave in the morning that I will be at the gas station up the hill. Yes-Man hand me a box of Sugar Bombs as an apology for laughing at me.

Me and the gang head to the gas station to get a nights rest I pull out my last bottle of scotch and start sipping on it. "You know that's going to kill you eventually." Bassie says as he turns his head towards me. I quickly respond with, "I'd rather die doing something I love than to die doing something boring." We both look up to the ceiling and begin passing the bottle back and forth. Panda reaches her hand in to get in on the action. Half yawning and on the border of a scream Panda exclaims, "I love you guys, you're the best friends someone could have in a world like this." We all laugh together and I fall asleep to the sound of them breathing.


End file.
